Japan-Laos Relations
Exchange of Notes concerning the Grant Aid to the Lao People's Democratic Republic “The Project for the Improvement of the Provincial Teacher Development Centers”
January 21, 2025
On January 21, 2025, following the Japan-Laos Summit meeting, in the presence of Mr. ISHIBA , Prime Minister of Japan and Mr. Sonexay SIPHANDONE, Prime Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, an exchange of notes was held between Mr. KOIZUMI Tsutomu, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Mrs. Phongsamouth ANLAVAN, Ambassador of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic to Japan, regarding the Grant Aid “The Project for the Improvement of the Provincial Teacher Development Centers” (project of up to 1.27 billion yen).
- For Laos, which aims to develop human resources and improve the quality of its labor force for social and economic growth, improving the quality of basic education, which is a prerequisite for such development, is an important issue. In particular, strengthening the teaching skills of in-service teachers is directly related to improving the quality of education, the Lao government has made it a priority policy to work on building a system for this purpose.
- Training for in-service teachers is conducted mainly at the eight Teacher Training Colleges that have been established throughout the country. On the other hand, the Provincial Teacher Development Centers are expected to be responsible for training in-service teachers in provinces where no Teacher Training Colleges have been established. However, many Provincial Teacher Development Centers lack the necessary facilities and equipment to conduct training, making it difficult to provide effective training to strengthen the teaching skills of in-service teachers.
- This project is expected to contribute to the improvement of the quality of education in Laos by improving the facilities and training equipment (projectors, sound systems, etc.) of the Provincial Teacher Development Centers in nine provinces across the country, thereby strengthening the implementation system for in-service teacher training throughout Laos.
(Reference)Basic Data on the Lao People’s Democratic Republic
The country covers 240,000 square kilometers (about the same size as Japan's main island of Honshu) with a population of approximately 7.63 million people and, its gross national income (GNI) per capita is US$2,120 (2023, World Bank).